Come Back Again (You Left Something Behind)
by luvsbitca
Summary: Spoilers for 'Rise of Skywalker'...after the end of the movie Rey has a little something left to her that no one was expecting. The Force will find a way to go on.


**Come Back Again (You Left Something Behind)**

by Moonbeam

"I'm sorry."

Rey had Luke's light sabre in her hand and on before she'd even finished turning around. She dropped it when she saw him, the sabre landing with a clang and a loud buzz of energy. She dropped down and grabbed it, never taking her eyes off him. She couldn't believe it; Leia and Luke have appeared to her at different times. After they defeated the Last Order, Leia was waiting in Rey's room with a kind smile and words to reassure her that things would be better now throughout the galaxy. She'd silently mourned the man in front of her – the only person in the Rebellion who was sad that he had lost his life in the caverns of the Sith world. Now her mind was blank, all of the thoughts of what she would do when…if he came to her gone from her mind as she stared at him. He took a step towards her.

"Ben," she breathed out, reaching out a hand to him.

He stopped and stared at her.

She took in his face, scar gone and his eyes looking so much like they did in that cavern – the moment before she kissed him. "Why are you sorry?"

"You know."

She smiled at him. "It's not your fault…unless you did it deliberately."

"I was just trying to bring you back. You didn't deserve to lose your life to Palpatine."

"You pushed too hard."

Ben looked away with a shrug.

"You didn't deserve to die. My life is not more important than yours."

"I think it is."

"Even now, with all of the knowledge of the Jedi?"

"More so now, with all of the knowledge of the Jedi."

"You're wrong."

"You didn't let the dark side in." Ben argued.

"Did you come here to argue."

"I came to say sorry."

"Is that why I haven't seen you? Were you waiting until you could tell me you're sorry that the force has a mind of its own?"

"Yes."

"I wish I could touch you," Rey said, eyes widening a little when the words came out.

He reached a hand out and she felt a brush of fingers along her arm. "I just wanted you to know I didn't do this to you deliberately. I wanted you to know it was the Force."

"I know."

He disappeared from in front of her. She reached out for him but she couldn't even sense him anymore.

-)(-)(-

"You're what!" Finn yelled.

"How?" Poe added.

Rey smiled. "The Force."

"That's not how the Force works," Poe said, looking between Finn and Rey. "Right?"

"I didn't think it did either," Rey said. "But it's certain. Dr And'r has confirmed it."

"Pregnant?" Finn asked.

"Pregnant," Rey confirmed. "Just over six weeks."

"Pregnant with a Force baby?"

Rey just smiled; not sure they were ready for that bombshell just yet.

"You're hiding something," Finn said.

Rey sighed and reached out a hand to Finn.

"Him!" Finn exploded, standing up. "Kylo Ren did this to you?"

"There is something you don't know."

"What?" Poe asked, looking at Finn with dark eyes.

"Palpatine killed me."

Finn sat down with a thump.

"He was my grandfather. He killed my parents and he manipulated everything to get me to that place so I would kill him and I would take on all of the memories and knowledge of the Sith," she said, rehashing information they already had before she got to the information she had hid from them thinking they would never need to know. "Ben came to help, he came to stop him, but then Palpatine discovered our Force Bond and used it to regenerate himself. I called on all previous Jedis to help me to defeat him and I did but it killed me."

"Then how are you here?" Finn asked, reaching out to her.

"Ben healed me, gave all of himself to bring me back and died but the Force left something behind. The Skywalker line needs to go on just like the Palpatine line does and through this baby it will."

"That's a lot of pressure for a baby," Poe mumbled.

Rey smiled. "That's why I'm leaving."

"What!" two voices demanded.

"There is a plan in place to return the Senate, Republic and democracy to the galaxy, I am going to find a place to live where the Jedi can rebuild, where anyone who is force-sensitive can come and be trained. It will be a safe place for us to rebuild without the pressure of trying to be part of the renewed Republic."

"You're leaving?" Finn asked. "We can't do this without you."

"Of course you can, but I have another path."

"Why can't you train the Jedi with us on Chandrila?"

Rey paused, trying to work out the right way to explain it to them.

"Luke wrote a journal with his thoughts on the Force and what he thought were issues with the way he tried to train Ben. He was trained to believe that suppression of emotions was the only way to master the Force but he no longer believed that was the way to do it, he believed that what was really needed was time and the opportunity to come to terms with our emotions so that they can be used to help us master the Force. I think if we started on the same planet where they are trying to start the Republic then the Jedi run the risk of failing before we can be strong again. Our work together isn't over but I can't be a part of the rebuilding of the Republic now. I was planning to wait a few years before I left on this journey but with the baby my plans need to move forward."

"When are you leaving?"

"I need to find a place first. I need to finish my light sabre."

-)(-)(-

"You're doing that wrong."

Rey looked up with a smile. "I'm not."

"The crystal should be the other way around."

"Did you visit me just to tell me I'm making my light sabre wrong, Ben?"

Ben moved over and pointed at the crystal. "It's the wrong way around."

"It's going to work."

"Not like that, and not if you don't connect this end to the solenoid."

"It doesn't need to be connected."

"Are you really going to train Jedi?"

"If there is anyone who wants to be trained, I will help them."

"On your own."

"You could help."

"I'm dead."

"That wouldn't stop you."

"Death is the great rest at the end of the perilous journey of life."

"Who told you that, it doesn't sound like you."

"Obi Won Kenobi, my namesake."

He disappeared and she went back to her light sabre, relieved that she would see him again.

-)(-)(-

"Skywalker?"

Rey looked up from the console, startled. "It's a strong name."

"It's not even her name."

"Leia was a Skywalker, you are a Skywalker, and this baby is going to be a Skywalker."

"Babies," Ben grunted with a frown.

Rey's jaw dropped. "Twins?"

"Like mum and him."

"See, Skywalkers."

"This is a terrible place for a Jedi home world."

"Why?"

"It's a back-water planet."

"Do you have a better suggestion?"

"Somewhere closer to the new Republic home world."

"We don't want to be too close."

"This is the opposite of too close."

"I wanted to bring their sabres back that's all. We don't have bodies to bury but we have those."

"Then where are we going?" Ben asked, sitting in the co-pilot's seat.

-)(-)(-

He noticed it before she seemed to, the gentle curve of her abdomen – the place where she was growing new life. He noticed more as well, the increasing slop of her breasts and the softening of her hips. He knew that he had been right to give his life for hers but that did not give him the gift of no longer wanting her. The only difference was that he could no longer hide behind the lie that he only wanted her by his side in ruling the empire.

-)(-)(-

"I'm thinking about Borleias," Rey said.

"Good option," Ben said, from where he was sitting on the floor near the refresher.

"It has some basic buildings from when it was used by the New Republic as a temporary base while they were working to retake Coruscant. The planet isn't a backwater but it's not over populated either and it's close enough to get the supplies a new Jedi training facility would need."

"Would you have the babies there?"

Rey shrugged, a hand curving over her abdomen. "I'm starting to show."

"Barely."

"What do you think of Jedi robes?"

"A pointless trapping."

"You seemed fairly happy to replicate them."

"Also a pointless trapping. My grandfather has made a point of telling me that it was never him and he never wanted another Skywalker to walk the path he did. Now that Palpatine is dead no one will I am sure."

"His death doesn't mean the end of the Sith."

"They have no leader, and their memories died with him."

"The universe feels a friendlier place now, I know that."

"Borelias it is to be," Ben said.

-)(-)(-

"I'm staying," Finn told her as the Millennium Falcon landed on Borelias. They were near the abandoned temporary buildings built by the New Republic.

Poe looked at Finn and nodded. "So am I."

"You don't need to do that," Rey told them. "You have important work to be doing."

"There are other people far more suited to rebuilding an empire than an ex-spice runner pilot and an ex-Stormtropper," Poe said, reading Finn's mind.

Rey looked between them and nodded, knowing she wouldn't be able to convince them to change their minds and also happy that they were staying with her.

"I'm beginning to see why you like them so much," Ben said from behind her – invisible to the other inhabitants of the ship.

-)(-)(-

"You should put the bed over there," Ben offered, pushing the bed across the room so it sat under the window. "Then you can get the summer breeze on hot nights."

"If it's in the middle of the room I will be able to put the babies' beds below the window. They will need the cool breeze more," she rubbed at her stomach which was now noticeably curved and wiggled her back.

"Where are you going to get the beds?"

"Hopefully in the town a few hours away."

"Until the babies come we can put the bed against the window and then move it."

Rey nodded. "That makes sense."

"You need to rest," Ben said. "You look tired."

"I've barely done anything."

"Except grow life and found a Jedi Academy."

Rey laughed but nodded and laid down on the mattress. Ben grabbed a blanket with the Force and laid it over her.

"Stay," she whispered. Ben settled on the other side of the bed wishing there was some evidence of his existence for her.

-)(-)(-

"I want to give them unique names," Rey said, "ones th-"

"Rey?" Ben asked worriedly.

"They moved," Rey looked up at him and laughed. "They moved."

Ben disappeared.

"Ben?" she called out.

-)(-)(-

"Unique is good," Ben said quietly as she was almost asleep.

"Where were you?"

Ben shook his head. "Unique is good, there will be enough weight on their heads with Skywalker as a name."

"Better than Palpatine."

"Yes." Ben was quiet for a long time before he continued. "If I was alive it would be Solo."

Rey reached out a hand and pressed it on the bed next to where Ben was resting. "It still can be."

"No, that name died with my father."

"It's your name too."

"Go to sleep, Rey."

-)(-)(-

Rey placed the Jedi texts on the shelf in the main living space just down from her room and connected to Finn and Poe's rooms.

"I've set up the training runs as they were on Leia's plans," Finn told him, coming in trailed by BB-8 and Poe.

"Excellent, I'm looking forward to running them." Rey smiled at them.

"Can you run them at the moment?" Poe asked, looking at her abdomen.

"Pregnant, not incapable," Rey said. "I can do a little running and Force work."

"A little running?" Ben asked. "It's not a decent course if it's just a little running."

Rey smiled and Finn and Poe looked at one another then frowned at her as one. "What?" she asked.

"What is happening when you do that?"

"Do what?"

"You look somewhere off to the side and react like there is someone there."

Ben concentrated for a moment and Finn and Poe swore as they spotted him.

"Him!" Finn yelled.

"Him," Rey said. "He's been visiting me pretty regularly since he died."

Ben faded a little and disappeared from Finn and Poe's view but remained visible to Rey.

"Where did he go?" Poe asked, looking around.

"You're not as sensitive to the Force as I am so it takes a lot more energy to let you see him."

"So, he's just watching us?" Finn asked.

Ben laughed.

"He's not watching you – he spends his time here with me."

"Doing what?" Poe asked.

"Talking about the Force, our plans, the babies, anything really."

"You're in love with him," Poe said.

Rey flushed but looked at Ben anyway and nodded.

"How can you be in love with someone who killed all of those people, whole planets, who tried to kill you and us, who killed his own father."

"I don't understand either," Ben said.

"I don't justify anything he did, he made choices and he was manipulated and he saved my life. I just love him."

Finn nodded. "Okay, so is he sticking around?"

"Okay?" Poe asked.

"We have all done things that aren't completely legal…except Rey, so as long as you're sure he's not still trying to bring you to the Dark Side?"

"He's not," Rey told them.

"How can you be sure?" Poe asked.

"I know. I know him better than anyone – we shared a lot through the bond and outside of it."

"Okay. Then he's here being a ghost and he's sticking around."

"I hope so."

"Yes," Ben said, making himself visible to everyone again for a moment.

-)(-)(-

Rey felt a brush along her hairline, the force pressed to her temple for a moment, just before she fell asleep.

"I love you too."

-)(-)(-

"What is that?" Ben asked, pointing at the puckered scar on her hip.

"A scar."

He glared at her.

"When I was small and learning to be a scavenger I fell, a screw punctured my hip. It took me months to heal."

He frowned. "What about the one on your leg."

Rey smiled and started telling him about all of her falls, injuries, all of the little failures as a scavenger and then told him her funny stories too. Then she asked him to tell her about his childhood.

-)(-)(-

He could feel it.

He knew he shouldn't do it but he felt like the other choice would kill him.

"I can help," Ben said, reaching out to her with the force and brushing a strand of hair from her neck.

Rey looked at him and nodded, eyes locked on his and he moved his touch down her neck, across her skin and cupped her breast. She hissed, and leaned into the phantom touch.

"Sensitive?" Ben asked, using his other hand to sooth her other nipple, pebbled beneath her wrappings.

"Yes, for months."

"I'll be gentle."

She pulled at her clothes as he kept up the ministrations. "I wanted your touch before."

"I wanted to touch."

He left her breasts behind and following the skin she was baring to him, the expanding curve of her abdomen, the swell of hips, the long lines of her legs and her scarred knees. He touched her like he had wanted to when he was alive and wished harder than he ever had that he could feel her as he might have. Instead he dedicated himself to her body and giving her the relief that she needed as her hormones raced through her body.

-)(-)(-

Rey turned over in bed again.

"Rey?"

"They keep kicking my spine."

"They are running out of space."

Rey rubbed a hand over her stomach, running her fingertips along the lines of stretch marks that spidered in from her hips. "I don't think I can stretch anymore so they are definitely out of space."

Ben reached out with the force and rubbed at Rey's back.

"Are you leaving when the babies come?"

Ben froze. "Do you want me to?

"No."

"Then I'm not going anywhere."

"How can you be here all the time?" Rey asked, pressing back into this ghost touch.

"I'm dead, I can be wherever I choose. I choose to be here with you; just as I would have been if I were alive."

-)(-)(-

Rey's yell echoed through the woods but didn't make it to the house. Ben disappeared from her side to appear to Poe and Finn, dragging the two out of one another's arms.

"Rey," he said, before disappearing.

He reappeared next to Rey and sat next to her. "Poe and Finn are coming."

Rey nodded, teeth clenched and sweat catching on her brow. The pain slowed, eased a little and she gasped out a breath of relief.

"We need to get you up to the compound," Ben said, before screaming up to the sky. "I want hands!"

"I can walk," Rey said, wanting his hands just as badly. The Force could bring her back to life, it could give them these babies that were about to enter the world but it couldn't give him hands to touch her or to sooth the pain of childbirth. She rolled onto her knees and stood, holding her hand out for her staff and using it to take her weight. She started walking back towards the compound, Ben shadowing her every step of the way.

Finn and Poe met them and helped Rey the rest of the way.

"I'll go for the midwife," Poe said, rushing away as soon as Rey was resting on her bed.

In the end, there was no time for a midwife. Rey had two babies, healthy and in good voice, just as the sun was going down with Finn helping her and Ben looking on with a mixture of joy and barely concealed envy. A girl, followed quickly by a boy. The midwife arrived in time to help pass the afterbirth and properly check the babies before she laid them on Rey's chest and announced them to be healthy.

"What are you going to call them?" Ben asked, looking down at the babies.

"Asha and Swithun," Rey said, looking down at them. "Hope and strength."

**The End**

And obviously Finn and Poe lived happily ever after. Rey lived happily but she and Ben always wished he was alive. Asha and Swithun grew up well-adjusted and happy and were strong in the Force and in touch with their emotions.


End file.
